Another Phantom
by Zombiecatfire13
Summary: Erik has been dead for quite some time, living out his death in the ghost zone. But when a mysterious force pulls him back to Earth, he must once again deal with his greatest enemy: the human race. Phantom of the Opera X Danny Phantom crossover!
1. Chapter 1

How marvelous this technology was. Erik had always been ahead of his time, fabricating the strangest devices that would boggle the mind of any scholar, leaving him dumb and bland. But THIS… Erik almost regretted his time in the complete solitude that the ghost zone had supplied him with. Over the years, his own inventions had progressed in complexity, and he now observed that they could easily be seen as the product of a world parallel to the one he was currently standing in; it was as if progress had forked off in two directions, creating entirely different possibilities. Erik found this new world impressive, but far too colorless. Had these people no sense of beauty? All around him were the jagged, careless edges of efficient (if dull) metal. Gray was the dominant color in the room by far, but there were occasional patterns, which he assumed to be messages of some sort, painted on seemingly random surfaces. He recognized ectoplasm, the energy source of ghosts, to be the obvious power source to a few mechanisms. The inventors of these must have been quite careless, providing freely so much information.

It was no matter, though. Erik was curious to see how the human race had evolved since he had died, possibly in the most literal sense. He had no idea how long he had been inside the ghost zone, for he had not intended to leave. Something had pulled him mercilessly across the void, with the everlasting quickness of a single moment of intense pain. Now he was here, back in the world he had grown to despise. Now he was truly the Opera Ghost, the Living Corpse that everyone feared! The Angel of Doom… how perfectly fitting THAT title had become! Becoming intangible and invisible, Erik glided upwards until he could see the sky. He looked down, studying the scene. The first thing he saw was an odd building, the one he had just exited. Two words in English were etched upon an extremely gaudy sign.

"Fenton works"…

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"I swear, this is just TOO weird!" Danny grumbled, trekking angrily through the halls of his school, Sam and Tucker at his side. "Your ghost sense going off? Gee, that's rare," Sam replied sarcastically. "For the umpteenth time this week! I haven't even seen ONE ghost!" Danny snapped. "And seriously, how many ghosts do you know that would just follow me without doing anything?"

"The Box Ghost," Tucker said, and at Danny and Sam's confused expressions, he explained, "he tries, but never really DOES anything."

"Hardy har har," Danny huffed, then after a second wilted and said, "look, guys, I'm sorry. I'm just so nervous! My ghost sense has been going off left and right, but I haven't seen any ghosts! I think I have a… stalker, or something." Tucker raised an eyebrow, "a ghost stalker?"

"… I just realized how stupid that sounded."

"What tipped you off?" Sam teased with a mischievous smile. "Well don't you think it's a little weird?" Danny persisted, causing Sam and Tucker's moods to turn serious. "Kinda… but as long as whatever it is you're sensing leaves us alone, there's no problem, right?" Sam said hopefully. "As far as we know…" Danny responded, made uneasy by a choking sense of foreboding. Despite Danny's ominous predictions, the day went by as usual; that is, until the explosion.

It was all over the news. Many people claimed that it was a terrorist attack, while others claimed that it was an extreme reformist, trying to get a message across. Some said that it was just some nut that got his hands on some explosives. Danny, Sam and Tucker, however, knew better than to assume that this was caused by the actions of a human. The students of Casper High were sent home immediately, for fear of more "bombings". As soon as Danny walked in his front door, Jazz was on him like a tiger, hurling questions at him. "Oh my gosh, Danny, are you all right? I heard about it on the news! I took the day off to study for a big test, and of course the teachers didn't care, because…" a hard look from Danny got her back on topic. "A-anyway! Was it a ghost? I'll bet it was! Did you kick its transparent butt?"

"Um, Jazz? Chill," Danny said dryly, walking past her. "There was no ghost. I mean, what kind of ghost would blow up a BOOKSTORE?"

As soon as Danny was sure that Jazz was not trying to spy on his conversations, he turned on his computer and pulled up a video chat room, where Sam and Tucker were already waiting. "OK guys, I got Jazz out of the way."

"That's a relief!" Tucker laughed, "god knows she's more likely to stop YOU than any other ghost!"

"Tucker, mind focusing? The guy running that bookstore almost died, is in the hospital in critical condition, and all you can do is joke about Danny's sister?" Sam snapped. Tucker shrugged, "apparently."

"About that. Either of you have any idea what kind of ghost would want to blow a place like that up?" Danny intervened, bringing his friends back on topic. "Not a clue," Tucker and Sam said simultaneously, then both looked vaguely surprised. Sam was the first to recover. "We could go out and sniff for clues, but my mom's on hyper drive and won't let me set foot outside the house."

"You know Amity Park," Tucker said, "there's always SOMETHING being blown up. Those news hacks just like to blow it out of proportion. Things will be back to normal by tomorrow."

"You're probably right," Danny agreed, "let's all meet up tomorrow night for a little recon."

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Once again, like so many times before, Danny and his friends found themselves searching for an unknown threat. Danny, in his ghost form, flew a slight distance ahead of Sam and Tucker, who rode on electronic scooters to keep up. The trio was combing the streets of Amity Park, searching for this new, odd bomber. They were ready for anything… except the sudden intrusion of strange and beautiful music upon the still night air. Amity Park had one church, which was used to house many different religions by renting out sections to different groups. The eerie sounds of a lonely organ drifted upon tufts of air, creating immense beauty and sadness with each painfully perfect note. Sam, Danny and Tucker, whether out of suspicion or something more, honed in on the source of this strange phenomenon. Danny motioned for Sam and Tucker to wait outside the building while he went in to investigate.

Danny glided silently into the eerie church, invisible and intangible. As he grew closer to the source of the sound, he saw a dark figure sitting at a large organ. As he grew closer, he saw the telltale glow surrounding the shape.

A ghost!

"Sorry to interrupt, but do you do tutoring? I could really use some help in music theory," Danny announced confidently, causing the ghost to halt abruptly. "And this is again my undoing!" Danny heard the ghost hiss to itself, though he had no idea what it meant. "Um, yeah, you DO know I'm here, right? I could be talking to a brick wall right now." Pausing, he contemplated the thought and said, "I actually could be… can ghosts do that?" The dark ghost rose to its feet silently, not making any move to turn and face Danny. Danny blinked. "Seriously, would it kill you to say something? Ohh, bad pun." The ghost stayed still enough to be a photo. "Well, I hate to attack without cause, but I bet you've done SOMETHING wrong. Batter up!" Danny hurled an ectoplasmic ball of energy at the ghost. Danny's bravado evaporated as he felt a thin strand of catgut (not that HE knew what it was) curl around his throat, sapping his strength with a sharp jerk. He hadn't even seen the ghost move… he really needed to start paying more attention in these fights! In a split-second reaction, Danny went intangible and pushed away from the deadly noose, a mere heartbeat away from a savage tug that would have lopped his head clean off.

"Whoa!" Danny exclaimed, suspended in midair, rubbing his neck, "dude, chill!" The ghost stared at him blankly, and Danny got a chance to study it. It was a man, very tall and extremely thin. He would have guessed that it was a skeleton, but he couldn't really imagine a skeleton being that well-dressed. The ghost looked like we had just come from his own funeral, decked in head-to-foot black. There was also a mask, but what can you expect from a ghost? He and Tucker had a bet going about how long it would be before they saw one in a coconut bra. "OK, you haven't said a thing, and it's kinda starting to creep me out. Do you even understand what I'm saying?" The ghost seemed to think about this, and after a brief moment he replied, "I believe that you are speaking some form of English, though what you are saying continues to be a mystery." Danny blinked, startled by the civility of the ghost's tone. "Ooookay then…" he said, recovering, "WHAT... ARE... YOU... DOING... HERE?"

"I am not deaf!" The ghost snapped, tightening its grip on the proven to be dangerous string in its hands. "OK, OK!" Danny stammered, raising his hands in a sign of surrender. "Not deaf. Gotcha." The ghost's eyes glinted dangerously through the mask, and Danny landed on the ground, backing up. "Look, you win! I'm not gonna attack!"

"And may I inquire as to why you did so in the first place?" The ghost's voice was low and ominous. "You were playing an organ in a deserted church in the middle of the night."

"Is that a crime?"

"No, but you gotta admit, it's pretty creepy."

The doors of the room slammed open, and Sam and Tucker charged in. "Hang on, Danny! The cavalry's here!" Tucker screamed, waving an ecto-gun wildly. "We heard a blast, so we—oh." Tucker was silenced by the very imposing figure of the black-clad ghost looking down on him with contempt. "Uh, don't let is interrupt anything. We'll just be going now…" he started to walk away, but Sam grabbed his arm sharply. "Listen, spook! If you want to hurt Danny, you'll have to go through us!"

"Umm, Sam?" Danny tried to interject, but Sam continued yelling at the ghost. "So you'd better just run of back to the ghost zone before we kick your creepy butt—"

"SAM!" Danny shouted, waving his arms to get her attention. "We stopped fighting, like, five minutes ago."

"Really? Why?"

"Umm…" Danny hesitated, not wanting to tell Sam that they could all have their necks snapped in a matter of seconds. "W-well, we don't know if this ghost has done anything, so we might as well give it a chance to explain itself—"

"IT?" the ghost's voice was almost a whisper, but held the quiet severity of thunder. "Gah! Uh-uh-'he'! That's it! He!" Danny stammered, fearing the lasso that could easily kill him and his friends. He could feel the anger coming off the ghost in waves, but tried to act as calm as possible. 'I bet he can smell fear…' he thought shakily. "A-and it's really not fair to attack him without hearing his side of the story… right?" he looked to his friends with a silent plea. They both nodded dumbly, and turned expectantly to the ghost.

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How utterly amusing! These children seemed too absorbed in their gentle bickering to spare any attention to the monster surveying them! Erik almost wanted to laugh… and wished that he could understand half of what they were saying. He spoke almost every language ever invented by man quite fluently (the ghost zone giving him the time and tools necessary to learn both modern and dead languages), but these three seemed to be speaking a completely new dialect. Now they were staring at him. Erik hated being stared at, even if it was not for the usual reasons. They attacked him, and now expected him to cheerily engage in story-telling? Well, they were only children, he supposed, and he had not killed a child yet (excluding poor Reza…).

"I am not here with the intention of harming you, or anyone else," he started, his temper flaring slightly as the watching faces were clouded by disbelief. "I am, however, by no means above doing so." The expressions changed to fear. What a delightful little game. "I therefore suggest that you leave me be." The three youths looked anxious now. Erik started to wonder why, but his question was soon answered by the one whose name he had not heard, dressed in a most unnerving shade of yellow. "We'll be out of your hair in a minute; we just have one quick question for you!" Glancing at the one that Erik assumed to be "Danny", the other boy added, "it's, ah, part of a survey." At Erik's silence, the boy continued, "blow up any bookstores lately?

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The ghost seemed surprised by the question (not that you could really tell with that mask). "… Ah, yes." He said at length, though his tone lacked any of the malicious gloating that Danny usually associated with destructive ghosts. "Um… why?" Danny asked, taken aback by the ghost's blunt confession. The ghost shifted uncomfortably, "certain documents held within are… were… surprisingly… accurate." Danny would bet he looked as confused as he felt. "… Well, uh, earlier you were asking about crime, and that kind of IS, so I'm gonna have to take you back to the ghost zone," he said, grabbing the Fenton thermos. The ghost straightened his figure to look taller and even more menacing, "and spend eternity lost inside that endless void?" he growled, defiance clear in his voice.

THIS was going to be difficult…

And there's the end of chapter 1! Please leave a review, unless you just feel like spouting criticism. Then, I guess, don't. That aside, I hope you guys enjoyed this!


	2. Chapter 2

Danny bit his lip, unnerved by the ghost's unwillingness to be crammed into the Fenton thermos. He understood the aversion (thanks to Jazz!), but this ghost needed to be put back into the ghost zone so he couldn't hurt anyone else. Summoning all the courage he had, Danny announced, "Look, you're going back, whether you like it or not!"

"Dude, why didn't you just say that from the start?" Tucker asked, turning his head to Danny. "Does this answer your question?" the ghost hissed coolly, flicking his deadly lasso around Tucker's neck. "Tucker!" Danny screamed, and without warning, tackled the dark ghost. The ghost seemed totally unprepared for this, landing in a sprawling heap on the floor. Leaping up, he glared daggers at Danny, who now held the catgut lasso. "You tire Erik, boy! He only wishes that you leave him be! Even the SOULS of humans are pitifully flawed!" Sam's eyes widened, "wait… did you say ERIK?" The ghost's glaring eyes snapped to her, "that is my name, you witless dolt!"

Sam took an instant step back, "Danny!" she commanded, "drop that and get over here!" Danny looked at her as if she had just suggested to swim in gasoline, then attend a smoker's convention. "And give the crazy ghost his weapon back?"

"Just do it!"

Danny, hoping fiercely that she had some elaborate plan, did so. Nobody needed to tell Tucker to follow. Sam raised her hands in a gesture of defeat, "there, you win. We're backing off now."

"WHAT?" Danny and Tucker shouted immediately. "You morons!" Sam fumed, "Look at him! A mask, black clothes, really tall and thin, speaks in third person…" Danny and Tucker blinked in confusion. Sam face-palmed in frustration, "he's the Phantom of the Opera!"

"The… what?"

"The Phantom of the Opera! You know, the Opera Ghost!"

Still nothing.

"Have you two read any books? AT ALL?" Sam snapped. Tucker gave a snort of laughter, "what kind of ghost haunts an OPERA?" Erik, who had until now been eyeing the trio warily, was now standing over tucker menacingly, "would you care to find out?"

"N-n-no sir!" Tucker stammered, every hint of humor gone from his voice.

"Forgive my friend, he's a little, ah, slow," Sam turned to Erik, pointing to her head and nodding in Tucker's direction. "Hey!" Tucker protested, but Erik only eyed her warily, like a wild animal being offered a handful of food. "We know when we're beat," she said simply, and Danny and Tucker exchanged bewildered glances. Sam looked to them, "can my friends and I have a moment to talk things through?" Erik seemed to mull this over, then nodded his acceptance. Without pause, Sam dragged Danny and Tucker outside.

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Surprises at every turn. Erik was surprised that he had been able to contain his temper for so long. Anything that did not end in murder was a success; the occasional mauling was reasonably acceptable, depending on the conditions. The young girl, Sam, seemed to have the most common sense of the three, and had pulled the other two aside to urgently discuss their next course of action. Erik listened, with the ears of a cat, as she hurriedly explained his experience with the Opera Populaire (quite one-sided, one might add!). She said that she was sure that they were outmatched, and Erik could almost feel the embarrassment radiating from her ghostly companion. This was followed by some argument as to what steps should be taken next. In the end, they could agree on nothing, and were forced to trudge back into the room, no closer to a solution than they had been before.

"Um, sorry we took so long; we were just… uh…" Sam struggled to come up with a plausible explanation. "Attempting, rather poorly I might add, to decide what to do with me?" Erik suggested coolly. "… Yeah," Sam admitted, knowing that it was useless to lie. Erik shrugged and said, "I am in your position as well."

"Wait, you're WHAT?" Danny interjected, giving Erik a quizzical look. Erik was visibly tense, restraining himself from taking his frustration out on Danny and his friends. "I have been in the company of the human race for a period extended beyond my liking. It was amusing at first, but I grow weary of such observation," he sighed. "Then why not just go back to the ghost zone?" asked tucker, earning a glare from Erik, who had taken a disliking of him. "The ghost zone is immense beyond comprehension," Erik explained in aggravated tones, "once you think that you have explored the whole expanse, even more terrain is revealed. Or so I have heard…" he added darkly.

"Couldn't you just retrace your steps?" asked Sam, "er, figuratively, of course."

Erik's yellow eyes flashed, "I tire of your incessant questions!" he spat, rising into the air. "I could end you now! Be thankful that you are mere children!" and with that, he disappeared into the darkness of the eerie church. "Aw, crud," Danny huffed.

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Why had he given them so much information? Erik was still fuming the following morning. Although he could easily avoid the threats of the real world with his ghostly abilities, Erik still disliked daylight. Fortunately enough, he had managed to find an abandoned building to hide in; he did not feel like exploring the new world today. He chose, instead, to make himself miserable (more so than usual) by asking himself the same questions over and over again. Why had he told those children so much? Information makes one vulnerable! He had told them much more than they needed to know… which was, of course, nothing! When would he learn to keep his nose (metaphorically) out of the business of the human world?

Thank god Erik left before too much damage had been done… he didn't need to tell them that he was desperately lost! LOST! He had once roamed the world with no concern for direction or destination. Countless years had strangled such freedom, leaving it pitiful and wilted. He depended on uniformity… a place to hide away… a dark hole in which to shield himself from the hatred of the world… nothing could provide such isolated freedom… except for the ghost zone! But he was no fool… the ghost zone had changed since he first made his home… things had moved. Whole expanses had disappeared or been replaced, even created at random. More and more ghosts were cropping up, clouding the ghost zone with their destructive malice. Erik only wanted to be left alone… fortunately, most ghost even seemed afraid of him! But the more ambitious ones… he did not want to run into them. He had lost the will to fight long ago, and doubted if he could survive a real challenge. If there could be a second death, he did not fear it! But a fate worse than death… he knew that that was entirely possible, a likely fate for those who crossed the wrong ghost.

Erik was so caught up in his thoughts that he did not notice that wrong ghost mere feet away…

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"I KNEW it was a ghost!" Jazz fumed at Danny, "why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I knew you'd react like this!" Danny shot back, "you're lucky I didn't tell you! That ghost came an inch from killing me; god knows what he'd do to you!"

"And WHAT is that supposed to mean?"

Danny was glad that he had gotten a decent night's rest after the events with Erik. He had managed to avoid Jazz… until now. "Look, we need to get to school," he sighed wearily, with a meaningful glance at his backpack. Jazz's eyes narrowed, but at length she said, "fine. But you're telling me EVERYTHING when we get home."

Going ghost, Danny started his flight to school. He was glad that he had his powers… he didn't have to ride the bus! Deciding that he had time, Danny took the long route. His mistake. About halfway through his trip, Danny was distracted by the sound of fighting. "Just what I need: something else to go wrong!" Danny grumbled to himself, but hurried on to the source of the sound. As Danny rounded the corner of a rather tell, stone building, he somewhat wished that he hadn't. The fight taking place before him was between two ghosts that he knew and loathed: Skulker and Erik! "Ha ha ha! There's no use fighting! Skulker never loses his prey!" Skulker laughed, blasting ecto-lasers at Erik. Erik dodged with the grace of a jungle cat, but Danny could see that something was affecting him; something that was sapping away the regal arrogance that he had displayed last night.

Danny waited, unsure of what to do. Why hadn't Erik fought back? Then it hit him: he probably HAD! The only way that Erik had fought last night was with that lasso, choking the life out of his opponents. But Skulker was inside of a robot suit; robots don't breathe! But now Danny was faced with a dilemma. Skulker had probably started this fight, seeing Erik as another animal to put on display. Skulker was a problem, but he looked like he might be able to catch the other ghost, something that Danny wasn't sure would be possible for him. Danny could just let Skulker take care of his problem for him… Danny's time to decide was running out. Skulker was landing some hits on Erik. Danny's time was up when an ecto-missile hit Erik full-on, causing him to plummet to the ground.

Against his better judgment, Danny shot forward, catching the dark ghost before he hit the ground. Danny shivered; the cold aura that surrounded all ghosts seemed concentrated around Erik. Erik made no protest as Danny set him on the ground, and Danny could only assume that he has lost consciousness. "Well, if it isn't the ghost child!" Skulker crowed, folding his arms, "quite the hero, aren't you? You're even saving ghosts!" Skulker's glare darkened into seriousness, "you DO realize what that one has done, don't you?"

"Well, if you're hunting him, he can't be that bad," Danny retorted, standing to face Skulker. Skulker frowned, "you are not my prey this day. Stand down and let me finish what I started, or I will finish YOU!"

"Wanna bet?" Danny grinned, evaporating Skulker's bravado. "Bah! I'll claim that beast when I see fit!" Skulker growled and, turning away, flew off with the aid of his jet-pack.

Danny turned his attention to the ghost lying on the pavement. He walked over to examine him. It looked like he has sustained more injuries in the battle that it would appear at first glance. His clothes looked singed from Skulker's blasts, and he could see patches of the green substance that served as blood for ghosts. Danny started as he realized that Erik was beginning to stir. Danny thought about sucking the injured ghost into the Fenton thermos right then and there, but looking at him, he couldn't suppress a feeling of pity. Sending this ghost back to the ghost zone now would be cruel, especially with Skulker hunting him. Danny sighed; he was going to miss school again.

And there's chapter 2! A bit shorter, but I thought this was a good place to end. I suppose I'm entitled to say that I don't own any of these characters… so there, I said it. Enjoy! (And review!)


	3. Chapter 3

Jazz stood outside Fenton works, tapping her foot impatiently. She had seen Danny fighting with Skulker and another ghost… after he had told her that there was no ghostly activity going on! Jazz jumped as she heard Danny's voice near her, "Jazz? What are you doing here?" he asked, sounding nervous. "What are YOU doing here?" she replied angrily, "and WHERE are you?" Danny faded into view, carrying a dark ghost slumped over his shoulder. He looked around quickly and said, "PLEASE tell me Mom and Dad aren't home!"

Danny laid the wounded ghost down on his bed. Erik stirred slightly, but remained unconscious. "Explain to me again why the creepy ghost gets to bleed all over MY bed…" Danny huffed, shooting an accusing look at Jazz. Jazz merely shrugged, "you're the ghost kid. You didn't want me in your business, so I'm not going to help you." Danny's temper flared for a moment, but he stopped himself before he could retort, and lifted his hands in weary resignation. "Look, I'm sorry, OK? I just didn't want you to get hurt." Jazz looked at him a moment before saying, "apology accepted," rather smugly. "So, who IS this guy? And why are you helping him?" Danny rubbed his neck, "well, Sam said that he was some character out of a book. His name's Erik…"

"The PHANTOM of the OPERA?" Jazz gasped, utterly startled. Danny sighed, "why does EVERYBODY know who this guy is? … as to why I'm helping him… I don't really know. He did try to kill Tucker."

"Makes sense," Jazz shrugged. "SENSE?" Danny exclaimed. "How on earth does that make sense?"

"He had a really rough life…" Jazz started to explain, but Danny interjected, "yeah, Sam told me about it, I know. Something about how he's really ugly and can't get this girl and…"

"It's not like that at all!" Jazz fumed, stomping on the floor. When Danny looked at her questioningly, she blushed and said, "I… I really like the book."

"Skulker must be a critic, then."

"Danny, this is no time for jokes!" Jazz scolded, "you should read the book. You'd probably like it."

"Well Mr. Creepy-Butt over there doesn't!" Danny snapped in an 'I-told-you-so' manner. "What the heck are you talking about?" Jazz asked, thoroughly confused. "The 'Phantom of the Opera' burned down a book store because his book was in it."

"What? No way!"

"That's what Sam said. I had no idea what the guy was talking about."

"Well…" Jazz paused, "that makes sense too…"

"What is it with you people that have read this book? You're like a cult!"

"Aren't we a bit off-topic?" Jazz pointed out airily.

"We've BEEN 'off-topic' for a while now." Danny replied through gritted teeth.

"Well I think it's time we got back there… don't you?" she countered smugly. Danny could do nothing but resign to her wishes.

"We CERTAINLY can't let Mom and Dad see him, but I don't know much about ghost healing. Do you?"

"Not anything serious" Danny shrugged. "And anyway, what happens after he's healed? I think he said he was lost or something."

"We have to do something quickly," Jazz said with a new urgency, "if he recovers before we have a plan, he'll NEVER accept our help! … he's very proud."

"Proud enough to "rot" forever in the human world that he seems to hate?"

"Yup."

Danny facepalmed. How could this kooky ghost have survived as a human? He was probably rich or something. Aristocracy can be a bit "eccentric".

"Well then, Miss Know-It-All," Danny sighed, "I suppose YOU have a plan?"

Jazz fidgeted, "umm…" When Danny smirked at her obvious befuddlement, Jazz indignantly snapped, "h-he's supposed to be a fictional character! Who makes plans for fictional characters?"

Danny eyed the sleeping Erik warily, "if he wakes up, do you think he'll snap our necks?"

"Probably," Jazz said, not needing much consideration.

"Good to know," Danny replied, trying to work out how to get a handle on this dilemma. "Maybe we could ask Mom and Dad if there's any way to keep a ghost from attacking without hurting it…"

"You think they CARE if they hurt it? Did you really save Erik from Skulker just to have him be ripped apart molecule by molecule?"

"Hey, it was just a suggestion."

"… Well, it might work. But we'd need to ask Dad, and not say ANYTHING to Mom."

After a second, Danny gave in to his curiosity and asked, "okaaay… why?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Jazz lightly scoffed, as if to rub it in, "if we ask Mom about it, she might want to know why we're asking. But if we ask Dad he's sure to brag about anything and everything he can think of."

"That makes sense…" Danny decided, "but what doesn't make sense is that you're here at all."

"I saw you fighting Skulker. I wanted to be home before you were, so I decided that I'd come home before school even started, so I'd beat you here whenever you came! I was going to confront you about being such a jerk, but… well, you have a reason."

"What…" Danny said, befuddled, "… the teachers just let you leave?"

Jazz beamed, as if she were waiting for this moment, and proudly said, "it comes with being a good student!"

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"Your parents aren't home, right?"

"They're out on some… ghost hunting jamboree or something. It usually takes a while."

"So we don't have any protection from… uh…"

"ERIK?"

"Yeah, something like that."

"We've got Danny."

"What good did he do when we fought this guy? He was as useless as his dad!"

"Thanks, Tuck."

"Any time."

Erik awoke to the chatter of young, fretting voices. It reminded him of the dancers at the opera… his unusually sharp senses were dulled by pain, making him feel as if he has been a shark's favorite chew toy. Opening his eyes slowly, Erik recognized the colorless lab from his first day back on Earth. Moving his eyes down, he saw that there was a glowing green substance radiating from a wound on his chest. It displayed the spreading patterns of blood, but…

"It's changed color!" he shouted suddenly, and was vaguely aware of the frantic turning of heads and frightened expressions. Never mind that now…

"Wh… what's changed color…?" stammered the black-haired girl from the other night… ah, what was her name? Erik swore he knew it… oh well, it mustn't be that important anyway.

"My blood! It used to be red!" it occurred to Erik that he had not bled since he had become a ghost. "But nothing external has changed… such a drastic internal change should have noticeable effects. Now that I think of it, I cannot recall the transformation from human to ghost… green blood, green blood…" Erik snapped his fingers, "it may be possible to dissect myself now that I am a ghost!"

"Remember when he tried to kill me?" Tucker asked, "This is freaking me out even more."

"I expect it to be an effect of blood loss… can it even be called 'blood' anymore? What properties have changed?" Erik mused. The other four occupants of the room looked nervously at each other, unsure of what to do. "What IS that incessant jangling?" Erik barked suddenly, somewhat amused by how easy it was to scare these "ghost-hunting" children. The children seemed nervous and unwilling to speak, like sheep deprived of their shepherd. "Ah, those would be chains," a black-haired boy stated, "you're chained to a wall." Erik looked at his wrists, finding that they were indeed shackled. "Ah. Very well then," he dismissed vaguely. "You're not mad?" the black-haired boy asked, surprised. "Not currently. I imagine that I will be furious eventually… you know, this room really is quite depressing. I am generally not one for color, excluding red, but this room would look better in even a bright pink."

"Scary ghosts redecorate?" the annoying one joked. "Why yes, of course. Didn't you know that?" Erik replied, "It's common knowledge, really. We often use humans, especially for paint. The stench is horrid, but given enough time, one can really grow to love the simplicity of natural decoration." The annoying boy's eyes grew wide, but he said nothing.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Should we leave him alone down there?" Sam asked the group as a whole as they trudged up the stairs from the lab. "Are you volunteering to watch him?" Danny replied sarcastically. "I'm volunteering Tucker," Sam countered, to which Tucker hurried through the exit and into the kitchen, "only if you want technologically savvy PAINT!" he objected. "I don't think he was serious," Jazz added thoughtfully, "Erik sort of 'jokes' sometimes…"

"You're trusting an evil, creepy ghost's ability to JOKE?" Tucker shouted in an exasperated tone. "No, she's trusting her friends on ," Danny tapped his head and winked at Jazz, "Miss Smarty Pants forgot to erase her web history." Jazz gasped and blushed profusely, "I-I-I was just doing RESEARCH!" she squeaked. Sam punched Jazz lightly on the arm, "I can't believe I have to tell YOU to focus. WHO was talking about how we have to hurry?"

"R-right!" Jazz said quickly, straightening up, "we can avoid any more conflict if we find a way to get Erik back into the Ghost Zone!"

"Back to where he was BEFORE," Sam added, "he said it's too big to wander around in, so he must have not moved much from one single area while he was there."

"It probably matters what kicked him out in the first place," Tucker interjected. "It might have left a physical or energy pattern different from the areas around it, due to the irregularity."

Danny blinked, "did you guys just have some sort of alien language convention?" Jazz smiled in a sweetly condescending manner and said, "and that, dear brother, is why you're the brawn of the organization."

And here we have chapter 3! Mostly talk, but that's fun, right? I had no idea where to go with this chapter, but here we are! Voila! Please review or comment or whatever you'd like to call it.


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